The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, March 13, 2018 — 7

Marody’s moment: From student of the game to college hockey superstar

As is tradition for countless 

fathers in Southeast Michigan, 
Patrick Marody often took his son 
Cooper to hockey games when the 
boy was young.

The Marodys are a hockey family, 

and in the mid-2000s, there weren’t 
many better places for a hockey 
family than their hometown of 
Brighton, Mich. Forty-five minutes 
east, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik 
Zetterberg lit lamps and dazzled 
fans on a nightly basis with the 
NHL’s Detroit Red Wings amid 
their most recent dynasty. Twenty 
minutes south, Red Berenson had 
built the Michigan hockey team into 
a collegiate powerhouse, then in the 
middle of a legendary streak of 22 
straight NCAA Tournament berths.

So it’s no surprise that Cooper 

quickly fell in love with the sport. But 
when Patrick took him to games, he 
noticed something interesting.

“He would just stand,” Patrick 

said. “He wouldn’t want to sit down. 
He would stand, and he would watch 
all the players. He was mesmerized 
in watching them do every move.”

By nature, hockey is chaotic. 

Players slam into each other at 
speeds of 20 miles per hour or 
more. Pucks can fly five times that 
fast. It’s energetic, electrifying and 
exhilarating — and for a newcomer, 
especially a child, it can be nearly 
impossible to comprehend.

And yet, that was all young Cooper 

wanted to do. Instead of embracing 
the mayhem, he dug deeper. He 
was entranced by the sport’s skills, 
structures and subtleties. He would 
watch highlights, go to bed, wake 
up and watch more. He became, in 
his father’s words, a “student of the 
game.”

“He wasn’t just watching the 

excitement of the game, he was 
watching the strategy and how the 
players go and how they perform 
with the puck and things of that 
nature,” Patrick said. “… Some people 
go to an event where they just watch 
the chaos in the event. … He wasn’t 
watching the chaos, he was watching 
the individual players, what they do 
and how they do it.”

This is how a young student of the 

game became a Big Ten Player of the 
Year finalist, as the best player on 
the most surprising team in college 
hockey.

***
Cooper Marody was born on 

December 20, 1996. On its own, it’s 
not a terribly consequential date of 
birth.

In hockey, though, it’s a sentence 

of sorts. Youth hockey is split into 
different age groups based on birth 
year. At an early age, those with 
January or February birthdays are 
often stronger, faster and farther 
along in their physical development 
than those born in November or 
December.

Growing 
up, 
Marody 
knew 

he wasn’t going to outmuscle or 
outskate anybody, at least not just 
yet.

But maybe he could outskill them.
Instead of darting all over the ice 

in an attempt to make an impact, 
Marody let the game come to him, 
eyes scanning all over the rink, 
carefully 
anticipating 
his 
next 

move before incisively doing so. 
His intelligence and calm attitude 
allowed him to make up for his 
physical disadvantages and mentally 
stay ahead of his competition. Know 
when to pass, know when to shoot. 
Know when to lie back, know when 
to go for it.

“There are players that run all over 

the ice, and it looks like they’re doing 
a lot, and there are other players that 
strategize and they anticipate how 
the game is going to go,” Patrick 
Marody said. “... Cooper’s a wait-and-
then-attack type player versus run 
to the front lines, attack and all hell 
breaks out.”

Marody’s voracious appetite for 

highlights also served him well. 
Thanks to his initial exposure to 
the Red Wings, he obsessed over 
Zetterberg’s puck handling and 
Datsyuk’s shiftiness, hoping to 
emulate elements of their playing 
style in his own game.

“(Zetterberg and Datsyuk) are 

extremely good leaders and lead by 
example,” Marody said. “Also just 
puck possession is phenomenal, 
the way they see each other on 
the ice was phenomenal to watch, 
their puck protection, the way they 
work to get open all over the ice. 
And just little things whether it’s 
manipulating a defender’s stick so 
a pass gets through, everything like 
that.”

When the age differences finally 

began to level out and Marody 

caught up physically, he remained a 
step ahead. His skills and intelligence 
were what first attracted Berenson 
to offer Marody a scholarship to 
play hockey at the University of 
Michigan.

“He’s 
got 
hockey 
smarts,” 

Berenson said. “He senses what’s 
going on. He doesn’t waste his effort. 
He’s not one of those players that’s 
skating all over the place for nothing. 
He’s an efficient player … As much 
as he’s a good passer and a good 
playmaker, when he gets around 
the net he can snipe goals as well as 
anybody.”

Added his current coach Mel 

Pearson: “There are some things that 
are God-given that I think you’re 
born with. … Just being able to see 
the ice and hockey IQ. You can get 
better, you can watch the game and 
learn the game, but some of that is 
innate. You just have that, you just 
understand it and he’s got it.”

Pearson compared Marody to a 

quarterback in football or a point 
guard in basketball with his feel for 
the game, a la Tom Brady or Chris 
Paul in skates.

“You understand the game so 

well, you’ve got a real good feel for 
what’s going on and what’s going to 
transpire,” Pearson said. “That feel 
or that sixth sense, that’s what makes 
the great players special.”

***
It didn’t take long for Cary Eades 

to notice what made Marody special.

In 2014, Eades, then the head 

coach and general manager of the 
USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede, had 
just acquired Marody in a trade with 
the Muskegon Lumberjacks.

Marody had requested the trade 

himself. Muskegon, he said, just 
wasn’t a good fit. The numbers bore 
that out — just 30 points in 58 games 
during the 2013-2014 season, and 
nine in 14 games a year later.

Sioux Falls offered not only a fresh 

start, but a glimpse of the player that 
Marody had the potential to become.

“He came down the right wall 

on the power play on a breakout, 
entered the zone and just a cross-
ice pass, backdoor tap in for 
(current 
Portland 
Winterhawks 

forward) Kieffer Bellows,” Eades 
remembered. “I looked at that and 
said to my assistant, ‘We haven’t seen 
that kind of a play in a while.’ ”

From there, Marody blossomed. 

In 38 games with the Stampede, 
he scored 20 goals and assisted on 
29 more — a per-game figure that 
ranked second in the USHL behind 
only future Michigan superstar Kyle 
Connor.

With 
talented 
linemates 
in 

Bellows (52 points) and current 
Denver forward Logan O’Connor 
(36), Marody and Sioux Falls tore 
through the USHL Playoffs on their 
way to a Clark Cup sweep over none 
other than Muskegon.

“We had instant chemistry, which 

is great,” Marody said. “Team really 
bought in, everybody played their 
role… and that’s an experience I’ll 
never forget and I learned so much 
from.”

Marody stepped on Michigan’s 

campus in the fall of 2015 after 
having proven what he could do at 
the highest level of junior hockey. But 
it didn’t take long for new challenges 
to arise in Ann Arbor.

“Guys were just bigger and 

stronger,” Marody said. “Guys like 
(JT) Compher, Boo Nieves, Justin 
Selman, they were huge, strong guys 
and it’s like, ‘Geez, these guys are like 
grown men.’ ”

Again, though, Marody grew 

up 
quickly, 
practicing 
daily 

against future professionals on the 
Wolverines’ 
talent-laden 
roster. 

While he didn’t explode onto the 
scene the way Connor — a Hobey 
Baker Award Finalist in 2016 — did, 
his 24 points in 32 contests ranked 
fourth among Big Ten freshmen in 
points per game.

It was easy to envision a bright 

future ahead.

“We had him on a line with Tony 

Calderone and Brendan Warren and 
there were nights where that was our 
best line, and Cooper was one of our 
best players,” Berenson said. “Now 
that didn’t happen every night, but it 
happened enough that you saw that 
this kid’s going to be a good player.”

***
Soon after Michigan’s 2015-2016 

season ended with a loss to North 
Dakota in the NCAA Tournament, 
the attrition began. Nieves and 
Selman? Graduated. Connor? Gone. 
Compher? Gone. Michael Downing, 
Zach Werenski and Tyler Motte? All 
gone as well.

All of a sudden, Marody was 

the 
Wolverines’ 
second-leading 

returning scorer. There was no 
hesitation about his role this time — 
Michigan needed a new offensive 
engine, and Marody had the talent to 
fit the bill.

There was one slight problem. 

The 
aforementioned 
attrition 

involved Marody.

A January 2016 bout with 

mononucleosis forced him to miss 
six games. The consequences ran 
deeper than just hockey — the 
illness set him back academically, 
to the point where he was ruled 
ineligible for the first semester of his 
sophomore year.

“Obviously he wasn’t as happy as 

he usually is,” said junior defenseman 
Joseph Cecconi. “He’s a pretty happy 
guy, and when he can’t play for pretty 
much a whole year out of two years 
being here it’s really frustrating.”

But the time in which Marody was 

unable to play revealed something 
else about him.

“He wanted to play so bad, and he 

was our best player in practice every 
day,” Berenson said. “He was playing 
on our fifth line with a couple of 
lesser players, but he made that line 
really good, and he made our team 
better even though he wasn’t in our 
lineup.”

Marody seemingly has a gift for 

making the most out of any situation, 
for creating something from nothing. 
He developed a skilled, cerebral 
playing style out of his late birthday. 
And while being held in hockey 
purgatory, he made the weight room 
into a temporary home.

“He just worked really hard off 

ice, making himself stronger, and on 
the ice in practice too, as well as in 
the classroom,” said senior forward 
Dexter Dancs. “... It was a good time 
for him to get stronger physically, so 
he utilized it.”

Even Marody’s ice vision and 

feel for the game — already his 
best attributes — only got stronger. 
Watching his teammates from Yost 
Ice Arena’s press box, five levels 
above the rink, he could process the 
game in a different and valuable way.

But maybe most importantly, his 

desire to suit back up never wavered.

“I think you realize once you’re 

not playing that long, just for 
anybody how much you love it, or 
how much you miss it,” Calderone 
said. “He sat out there for a while 
(due to) unfortunate events, but I 
think he really built up the passion 
again.”

That was clear from the moment 

Marody returned to the ice in 
December 2016, as he instantly 
breathed life into the Wolverines’ 
stagnant offense. In his second game 
back, the third-place game of the 

Great Lakes Invitational, he dished 
out three assists in a 5-4 win over 
Michigan State. One month later, he 
recorded his first career hat-trick — 
in just the second period alone — to 
power Michigan to an upset at No. 11 
Ohio State.

For the second half of the season, 

Marody’s 15 points were by far the 
most on the team. His return was 
everything the Wolverines hoped it 
would be.

Now he just had to prove himself 

over a full season.

***
Michigan finished third-to-last in 

the country in Corsi percentage and 
averaged just 2.6 goals per game in 
2016-2017. The Wolverines’ leader 
in points — then-freshman forward 
Jake Slaker — registered just 21.

This year, however, Marody’s 

emergence 
has 
catapulted 

Michigan’s offense into the upper 
echelon. With 14 goals and a 
whopping 32 assists, he currently 
leads the Big Ten in points with 46, 
and ranks second in the country in 
assists.

“He’s always had the skill, even 

back when I recruited him back 
in the day, he’s always had the 
skill,” Pearson said. “It’s just the 
consistency, doing it game in and 
game out. Anybody can have a decent 
weekend here or there, but when you 
put it together and you’re averaging 
more than a point per game, I think 
that’s a measure of a pretty good 
hockey player.”

Even considering all the questions 

surrounding Michigan before the 
year, ask anybody in the program if 
they anticipated this kind of a season 
from Marody, and the answer is 
matter of fact.

“Yeah, pretty much,” junior 

forward Brendan Warren says. “I’ve 
always known he’s super skilled, and 
we did a lot of skating in the summer, 
and I saw how much work he put in. 
He was looking really good coming 
into this year, so I knew he was going 
to have a big year.”

Adds Dancs: “He’s one of the big 

talents in the Big Ten … if not the 
NCAA, so (I’m) not surprised at all.”

Marody, for his part, credits 

everyone around him for his 
breakout season. His teammates — 
especially his linemates Dancs and 
Calderone. 
Michigan’s 
coaching 

staff. Team culture. And so on and 
so forth.

“I really like the chemistry with 

my linemates,” Marody said. “Dexter 
and Tony, I’ve said many times all the 
great things they do on the ice. Our 
power play’s really starting to click 
now. And just the overall structure 

of our team, the coaching staff has 
been really great implementing the 
new system.”

You could simply chalk that up 

to traditional hockey humility. Until 
you watch Wolverines’ “DMC” top 
line at work.

On one wing, Dancs, the bruiser 

on the boards and in front of the 
net, scraps for pucks and wins 
battles of grit. On the other lies the 
senior captain Calderone, the lethal 
assassin with a laser shot who can 
fire from anywhere.

And in the middle there’s Marody, 

the heartbeat of the offense, coolly 
surveying the ice and threading the 
puck to Dancs and Calderone from 
any angle.

“He’s a passer, and I’m a shooter,” 

Calderone said. “He does all the skill 
stuff, and will slide it over to me, and 
I shoot. That’s my strength, and it 
plays to his strength too.”

For a player with Marody’s gifts, 

it’s a perfect set-up.

“You’ve got to be teamed with 

the right guy, right teammates, 
linemates,” Eades said. “He needs 
a finisher, he needs someone who’s 
going to do the dirty work in the 
corners and get in front of the net.”

That formula has worked wonders 

this season, taking Michigan from 
the nation’s 42nd-highest scoring 
offense to seventh, from 13 wins 
to an almost-guaranteed NCAA 
Tournament bid in a single year.

Fitting, 
perhaps, 
that 
the 

Wolverines’ biggest win of the 
season — and maybe their ticket 
to the dance — was sealed with a 
quintessential DMC goal.

On Feb. 18, with the second period 

winding down in a scoreless game 
against Notre Dame, Dancs closed in 
hard on Fighting Irish defenseman 
Dennis Gilbert, forcing an errant 
pass. Marody grabbed the loose puck 
and skated forward, and as two Notre 
Dame defenders closed in on him, he 
dropped it off for Calderone, wide 
open in the high slot. Michigan’s 
captain made no mistake, firing the 
puck just above Cale Morris’ glove 
for the game’s only goal, and a sweep 
over the nation’s No. 1 team.

“Usually, when we need someone 

to take over a game,” Warren said, 
“Him and maybe Tony or his line, or 
the power play even, will find a way 
to do it.”

That’s exactly what happened 

in Michigan’s Big Ten semifinal 
matchup against Ohio State. The 
Wolverines hadn’t beaten the sixth-
ranked Buckeyes in four meetings, 
and had yet to even come close. 
Marody had registered only a single 
point against them.

But with the road to a Big Ten 

title threatening to end in Columbus, 
Marody did exactly what Warren 
said he would.

In the second period, Marody 

caught the puck in the Ohio State 
crease and dropped it down just in 
time to finesse a chip shot over Sean 
Romeo. A period later, he unleashed 
a tornado-esque spin from the top 
of the slot to tie the score at two, 
where it would stay until the end of 
regulation.

Marody’s performance, however, 

wasn’t enough to win the game for 
his team, as the Buckeyes scored the 
winning goal in overtime.

But it was enough to show, if it 

hadn’t been shown already, that 
Cooper Marody — college hockey 
superstar — had arrived.

***
On March 7, Marody, along with 

Morris and Ohio State forward 
Tanner Laczynski, was named one 
of three finalists for Big Ten Player 
of the Year.

“You don’t necessarily say I want 

to do this and that, or get this many 
points or get this honor,” he says. 
“You just play to be the best player 
you can be, and whatever happens at 
the end of the season is a result. But I 
think if you would have told me that 
this team would be seventh in the 
country… I think that would mean 
more to me.”

Still, it should give Marody 

some more things to think about 
once the season is over. While 
he’s focused solely on Michigan 
and the postseason right now — 
understandably, of course — almost 
everyone around him agrees that 
his professional future is bright. The 
Philadelphia Flyers selected him in 
the sixth round of the NHL Draft in 
2015, and Marody’s play this season 
might convince them to take the leap 
on him.

“Coming out of his year with us 

… (he had) abilities to make it to the 
National Hockey League one day,” 
Eades said. “Those are not things 
that you say lightly.”

Those are strong words, indeed 

— strong enough to make you forget 
that Marody has still only played one 
full year of college hockey.

“I really hope he stays as a college 

player and graduates and is over-
ready when he gets (to the NHL),” 
Berenson said two weeks ago. “... For 
me, it’s an easy decision. You stay at 
Michigan, you continue to grow.”

Added Pearson: “I always think 

if you can continue to improve 
here, there’s no rush. You want to 
make sure you’re ready physically, 
emotionally, spiritually, every way, to 
handle the grinds of pro sports.”

Pearson states that the decision on 

going pro after the season likely will 
ultimately come down to Marody 
and his family. But right now, they 
can afford to take their time.

“His dream was to go to Michigan 

his whole life since he was a little 
boy,” Patrick Marody said. “... We 
didn’t talk about Michigan hockey 
until we got offered, so then you start 
talking about it. Right now you got 
your job to do and just try to focus, 
and I believe that’s the best way. You 
don’t want to get ahead of yourself. 
Stay in the moment.”

And Cooper Marody has waited 

his whole life for this moment. 
No, not waited — studied for it. 
Meticulously prepared for it. Worked 
as hard as he can for it.

A winding road of starts and 

stops, of illness and ineligibility, has 
produced a confident ice general, 
who knows every inch of the rink 
and can make magic happen at any 
given time.

Finally, the student of the game 

can show off everything he has 
learned.

EMMA RICHTER/Daily

Junior forward Cooper Marody leads Michigan in assists with 32, a mark that’s good for second-best nationally.

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Junior forward Cooper Marody has used his interest in the details of hockey to develop himself into the best player on the Michigan hockey team.

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer

